Screen goes black on or after welcome screen

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Daveskater

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When i turn my computer on, it gets to the welcome screen then the screen randomly goes black and i have to reset it.
It doesn't happen all the time, and sometimes just resetting gets me in, but when it does happen, i can reset it 8 times and it won't let me in.
Sometimes it will get to the desktop before going, but one thing i have noticed is that when it's going to do it, the log in sound doesn't play.
When the screen goes black though, i don't hear anything like other people have, it just goes black and the red hd light on the case goes off. I've left it for ages and it doesn't respond to keyboard or mouse use, so i have no choice but to reset it.
I've done what one website says which is to look through things in "startup" in the "System Configuration" (msconfig) thing and i thought i fixed it but then it still does it.
I have windows xp home sp2, and it may be insignificant, but i have 2 hard drives and my friend's computer that does it has 2 hard drives too.
It was fine up until a certain point, which unfortunately i can't pinpoint, because then i might be able to fix it.
Anyway if anyone knows what's going on and how to fix it then i will be very happy, because it's quite annoying.
Cheers
 
uninstall your video drivers.
boot in safe mode
turn off system restore
boot normal
download latest drivers
install new drivers
turn on system restore
 
i don't think it's a video problem because the computer just completely stops doing anything
i don't get any sound or anything and the hard drive light doesn't come back on

although i do think that i've narrowed it down to being microsoft's fault

in the "system configuration utility" (msconfig) i only turned on the microsoft things in services and turned off all the startup things and it still goes black
it didn't do it though when i only had a few things turned on and all i turned back on were microsoft processes
good ol' microsoft :)
 
your symptoms smack of video drivers. There is no indication that you have an issue with servcies.
 
oh right, ok
i think it might have been doing it since i put service pack 2 on so they might not be compatible with it
cheers, i'll see if there are any new drivers avalible
 
service pack 2 should not effect your drivers, HOWEVER, sometimes the windows update site does not have the correct drivers for your system. download the current or old drivers you had that worked from the manufactuer's website. Don't download graphics drivers from the windows site if you are experiencing problems.
 
i've downloaded the latest drivers from the nvidia website and installed them.
i put them on yesterday and after i restarted it the computer got to the welcome screen then reset itself, i didn't think a whole lot of it and it worked fine the second time.
however it did it again today, and it was ok the second time, and the sytem configration come up on startup, because i haven't re-activated everything yet.
i ticked the "process system.ini" and "process win.ini" boxes and restarted the computer, but now i can't get onto it normally so i have had to boot in safe mode with networking so that i can untick them again and see if it's better.
if i manage to get onto it normally in a minute then i'll put another post up.
 
i've managed to geto nto my pc normally after unticking the "process win.ini" box
but restarting my pc from safe mode can be a bit misleading so i'll restart it later and see if it's ok

for some reason i've decided to put up a picture of the general tab on the system configuration
[CENTER]
msconfig9ng.jpg
[/CENTER]
 
another problem - oh dear

i don't know why, but since this morning whenever i try and sign in to my messenger beta, it resets my pc.
it was fine yesterday and i haven't changed anything since then apart from adding my printer to control panel
just thought i'd add that in case it was important i suppose

---

i downloaded hard drive inspector off of here yesterday and it is telling me that my hard drive is getting up to 54/57 degrees, i'm going to buy a hard drive cooler, but i think that because of it getting so hot, i have lost some data and it's causing the problems.
i'm thinking that it could have caused some important files to get deleted, stopping everything working properly.
 
can anybody help????

ok so i'm looking for anybody's help now
as you can see, my pc was going to a black screen on the welcome screen or desktop.
but now it's gotten much worse and now it resets itself
the last couple of days it has reset twice then been ok the 3rd time, but i am worried about it
i've bought hard drive cooling fans and a 3.5 to 5.25 conterter bracket thing off ebay because i know that my drive has been over heating and i have it in a floppy disk slot in my case at the moment so i don't have enough room for the fans. i only have 2 hard drives but only one hard drive space. i recently bought the second hard drive off of ebay (wonderful site, that).
when the fans come i'll be able to do a bit of work but i wondered if anybody else has had this kind of trouble before, because it is concerning me.
i have got the "process win.ini" box unticked as you can see above a couple of posts but i really want to get it fixed as soon as possible.
if anybody has any advice or help then it will be appreciated
thanks!
 
i've done loads of scans that come up ok (i have zone alarm security suite) so i could give windows a go i suppose

windows told me to send an error replort today and microsoft have said:
"+ Solution 1: Install the most current driver for your video card

- Solution 2: Manually decrease Hardware Acceleration for your video adapter
*This procedure prevents the display driver from programming the hardware incorrectly, but you may lose some display functionality and performance. Although you can increase the hardware acceleration settings higher than None to regain functionality and performance, these settings increase the chance that the issue will occur again. For maximum stability, leave hardware acceleration turned off.

1. Click Start, click Control Panel, and then double-click Display.
2. Click the Settings tab, and then click Advanced.
3. Click the Troubleshoot tab, move the Hardware Acceleration slider to None, and then clear the Enable Write Combining check box.
4. Click OK, and then click OK.
*Note: This procedure prevents the display driver from programming the hardware incorrectly, but you may lose some display functionality and performance. Although you can increase the hardware acceleration settings higher than None to regain functionality and performance, these settings increase the chance that the issue will occur again. For maximum stability, leave hardware acceleration off.

i've just done this and it's telling me to restart so i'll restart it and see how it is
 
everything hasn't been too bad for a couple of days but today it's gone downhill again
earlier it randomly reset for no apparent reason and it couldn't start normally again after trying 4 times so i'm now in safe mode
instead of reinstalling windows wat i'll try next is putting the disc in and doing a repair and see if that helps or not
just thought i'd say
 
if you still have trouble with this, lets try solving from hardware to software. although some may seem uneccesary or repeated, you'd be supprised.......
after each troubleshoot step, try booting to windows.

Hardware: open up your pc, unplug from mains, destatic yourself.
-pull out all non essential cards, expansions, drives. boot.
-take out one stick of ram (if multiple). boot. alternatively use memtest or similar to test your ram..
-clean out the dust and dirt in the case with an air compressed can while you have it open....

Observe:
-goto bios, check settings are ok, in the hardware monitors, check temps and voltages.
-look at the components, take note of any signs/smells of damage, wierd looking things or loose things. this also include popped capacitors, burn marks, stains on the IC boards.
-write down the make and wattage rating on your psu. post tehm here.


Software: since safe mode does work for you, it has to do something with drivers or a conflict. go [start>run] and type in %systemroot%/minidumps. post 5-6 of your most recent ones as a zip here.

repair should work, otherwise you can narrow it down to a startup process/program that is screwing you up..

-chkdisk /f in recovery console/command prompt...
there is one more thing to do but i cant remember right now... so see how you go...
 
Since you have mentioned concerns about your hard drive(s) running hot let me tell you what i do. I leave the hard drive connected but i unhook it from its position in the case and leave it out where a fan can cool it. Then i take a regular house fan and let it blow on the hard drive. That way, if there is a heating problem my pc and hard drive will work fine with the fan on it. I then turn the fan off and see if the problem comes back. Works fine as a troubleshooting tool!
This also works for anything else, vid cards, cpu, etc. Whenever you suspect heat issues use a house fan to see if that fixes the problem. If it does then you need to beef up the cooling in that area. Could be a new fan for your cpu, a fan for your hard drive, etc.
 
i've bought a set of fans for my hard drive and 3.5 to 5.25 inch converters because there wasn't enough room between my hard drives for the fans.
i had the drive about a month or so before i knew it was overheating so i'm thinking some of the files got damaged or something. but i do have a few theories for my problem.

i think it could have something to do with my printer for some reason, because everything was pretty good up until i took the plug out of my printer, because it turns on when i turn my pc on, and i didn't want it to make the noise that it does (it's old and noisey) but then i plugged it back in this morning and it started fine. it reset the first time but then i plugged it in and it was ok. the thing is, it's an olivetti jp192 and there aren't any windows xp drivers that i can find. i try to get it to install itself (the new hardware thing comes up each time i start the pc) but it can't do it because it won't take the floppy disks because they're for windows 95/98 i think.

i ran the repair console and it said that there was one or more errors so i ran chkdsk it again with /r and i think it fixed them.

if it suddenly goes mental again for whatever reason (hopefully it won't) i'll try what N3051M said and see how it goes.
 
For the floppy disks, see if you can copy them to your hard drive. I dont see why they wouldnt work unless you have your floppy drive turned off in your bios, which you can go into your bios and turn back on. IBM does that standard, they ship their pcs without floppy drive enabled in bios and others do the same, so you could try that.
If still having problems try leaving the printer off and disconnected, maybe its causing all your problems?
If that fails then i also suggest you do what N3051M suggests, good advice!
 
By the way, you mentioned your friend has the same problem, right?
If you guys do any filesharing then perhaps you might consider testing for malware\trojans\etc, just a thought. Run your updated a\virus first, then spybot, m\soft antispyware prog, adaware, etc. Also you can do a free online scan at trend-micro and other places.
Trend micro works fine for me.
Simpy running up to date a\virus doesnt cut it these days, you need the other progs i have mentioned as well, or at least some of them.
 
my floppy drive works ok, it's just the because the drivers are so old it warns me that they haven't passed windows xp testing but i say continue anyway but it doesn't finish installing them for some reason. i can't remember what it says because i haven't tried it for ages.
avg ran a scan earlier and it found trojan lop b and deleted it, but i also have spybot, adaware, trend micro anti spyware and zone alarm security suite which has anti spyware and anti virus, which is going at the moment. i also defragmented today with diskeeper because i haven't for a little while, but that probably won't make much difference to any problems.
 
I take it these are the video drivers on floppy disk?
Why not download them again and put them on a different set of floppies that are known to be good, or put them on a cdrom, unless they must install from floppy? Either way, i am suggesting that as it seems you are saying that windows wont install these drivers?
As for the windows verification, dont worry about that part, its usually not an issue. What happens is that the owners of the drivers have to pay big bucks to a company, i think its verisign, to have them verify drivers. So if they dont want to pay the big bucks then you get the warning when you install them. Thats all it is.
 
the drivers on the floppy disks are my printer drivers, i downloaded my video drivers from the nvidia website and installed them straight off of my hard drive.
i've managed to install the video drivers but whenever my computer resets when i turn it on then after the error report it usually tells me that it's because of either an unknown or video driver and that i should get the latest drivers. i've already gotten the latest ones but they still tell me to do it anyway.
i have my printer set up in control panel so that i can use it but i did that not very long ago, but i can try to install the printer drivers again to see what it says. i downloaded them as well but i don't think they worked either, but i'll check them as well.
 
On the other hand, if you dont have these printer drivers installed and your problem is still there, then the problem isnt the result of these drivers, right?
How about uninstalling and leaving the printer unhooked and off for a few days and see if that is the problem or have you already done that as well?

Have you tried a windows xp repair install?
 
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